SONA sets the tone for PH development goals: USM dean
GOVERNANCE/POLITICS • 13:00 PM Tue Jul 26, 2022
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By:
Edwin O. Fernandez
Professor Marcos Monderin (extreme left), dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) based in Kabacan, North Cotabato, speaks during a radio program Tuesday (July 26, 2022).(Kool FM)
COTABATO CITY – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has laid down the foundation of his administration development agenda in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) Monday, a college dean and political analyst in Soccsksargen’s state-run university in North Cotabato said.
“He has set the tone for the country’s sustainable development goals,” said Professor Marcos Monderin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Southern Mindanao (USM) based in Kabacan, North Cotabato.
“He specifically mentioned (in his SONA) issues that the more than 31 million Filipinos who voted for him want to hear—health and agriculture,” Monderin said in a radio interview Tuesday.
Kabacan is predominantly a farming town mostly inhabited by migrant Ilocanos from northern Philippines.
Meanwhile, Monderin said he felt the enthusiasm of legislators and the audience in the House plenary who responded with a standing ovation when Marcos mentioned providing more hospitals in the provinces and not only in Metro Manila.
“In this time of the pandemic, we need more health facilities,” he said.
The President stressed that hospitals that specialize in lung, heart, and kidney diseases should be established in all regions of the country, soliciting standing ovation and applause from legislators, political leaders, and the public.
“That was the most applauded part of his SONA,” Monderin noted, adding that when the President mentioned his agriculture programs, it showed his care for the country’s backbone—agriculture, farmers, and the fisherfolk.
Marcos is concurrently Department of Agriculture secretary.
Monderin said Marcos has enumerated “many doable things” that can be done right away while others are for long-term programs.
“Land distribution is doable, sustainability of food and food security are doable, more health care facilities are doable,” he said, adding that Marcos also made it a point to caution the people that when inflation worsens, calamities occur, “then we should be ready.”
“Generally, the SONA provides Filipinos what to expect from Marcos administration in the next six years,” he said, hinting Filipinos should support his administration. (PNA)